Breaking Ground, Moving Forward

Over the weekend, we broke open new ground that will soon be home to lush produce, delicious fruit, and beautiful flowers of all sorts. This is an answer to a five year prayer. As I watched my husband plowing in the field, I was filled with a flood of emotions. For it  was only a little over a year ago that we were breaking open the ground for an entirely different reason. The day we had to lay our baby to rest, as a result of miscarriage was by far the most tragic day of our lives. Yet as we stood at his grave, this much I knew to be true: death would not get the victory.

While our world was shattered and turned completely upside down on that day, I knew that this would not be the end of our story. What the Enemy had meant for evil, God would use for good. Breaking open the ground that once represented death, now symbolizes abundant life. This is the good that can be brought forth only through the vast love of our Heavenly Father.  It is  the beauty amongst the broken;  the life amongst the death.

As I reflect on the growth our farm has experienced over the last year, I am left nearly speechless. I could have never imagined how our story would have unfolded when I began praying years ago for the Lord to somehow make a way for us to be able to carry on our family’s 103 year old farm. After five years, a lot of late nights, stress induced arguments with my husband, and plan after failed plan later, here we are.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t a bit apprehensive about the road that lies before us. When I think about all that is being required of us, on top of other weighty responsibilities, I begin to fear. Are we really making the best decision for our family? Will our marriage suffer? Will our son feel lost in the shuffle? These are the thoughts that threaten to keep me up at night. It’s in those moments that I have to silence the clamorous voice of trepidation and center myself in the Word of God’s truth and of the one thing I am certain of: He has placed us here on the farm, at this very date in time, for His specific purpose.

I am still so incredibly humbled at the way that people would open up to us when they came to visit our farm stand last season. Complete strangers would open up about their loved ones who were sick or  who had recently died. Others would share how overwhelmed they felt with life and all the curve balls it can throw. Then, there were others who simply wanted to pray for us and our farm and would do so on the spot. I knew then that God was up to something and that I had better just hold on tight and stay on track with Him. 

There’s so much more going on below the surface than mere plowing, planting, and picking. For people are hurting. People are lonely. People are desperate for hope. Yes, indeed, our farm has become a form of ministry to us and when someone takes time to drive out and support our business, I want them to leave with more than just a pound of tomatoes or a dozen ears of corn. I want them to walk away knowing that they were completely seen and heard by someone. I want them to know that they have someone else in their corner, who is just as broken as they are. I want them to know that there is always hope and a way through the darkness. 

While the work ahead is certainly not going to be easy, I know beyond a shadow that it will be worth it. Every early morning, every drop of sweat, every tear that I know will be shed on the hard days- none of it will be in vain. For we will have one of the greatest privileges in life; to work side by side and hand in hand towards the same goals. There will no doubt be struggles- difficult seasons of sowing with potentially no material reaping, arguments with my husband that will come as a natural result of strain and exhaustion, and I’m sure our little Farmer Boy will not always be eager to help out in the garden.

It will certainly be no fairy tale life; nevertheless, I’m convinced that we will be all the better for it. We will be stretched and we will grow- together. We will laugh and we will cry- together. We will sow and we will reap- together. Day by day we will all grow stronger and will stand to tell the remarkable story of God’s grace. Jane Austen once said, “The distance is nothing when one has a motive.” I remind myself of this quote over and over again when the distance before us seems too long, too hard, and too unnatural. Yet we have a motive which is this: to make an honest living while loving others and pointing them to the One who is the Master Gardener and Tender of our Souls. Because in the end, it all boils down to Jesus and living a life worthy of the calling we have received.

While teaching our son the rules of checkers the other evening, I overhead my husband tell our son, “You can’t go back; you can only go forward.” That statement sums it up perfectly for me. And so, here we go. Foot off the break, blinders on, marching forward in faith.

Abide in Him Always,

Ashley